Seymour voters approved the proposed $21.1 million town budget Wednesday by 11 votes.
But for the third time, they rejected the 2012-2013 school budget proposal, at $30.5 million.
The results:
Town Budget: $21,160,166
YES: 844
NO: 833
School Budget: $30,548,026
YES: 737
NO: 938
About 18 percent of the registered voters turned out Wednesday — more than the 12.7 and 16.7 percent that voted during the first and second referendums, respectively.
The Board of Finance will meet at 7 p.m. Monday (June 4) to discuss possible cuts to the Board of Education bottom line.
Then on Tuesday, the Board of Selectmen will set a date for another referendum on the new school proposal.
School Cuts Likely
“It’s frustrating,” Board of Education chairman Yashu Putorti said after the referendum results were announced.
Putorti said there’s no place to reduce the proposal without cutting existing programs.
The Board of Education is waiting until a final number is approved to start talking about where those cuts might be made.
Putorti said the proposal defeated Tuesday — at $30,548,026 — doesn’t cover the contractual increases and other regular operating expenses of the district.
“It’s really hurting the students. It’s hurting our children,” Putorti said.
“And having us cut again is just really going to be devastating. I don’t know where to go with it now,” Putorti said.
The school budget voters rejected Tuesday would have meant a 2.53 percent increase over current spending.
The school board initially came to the town asking for a 5.15 percent increase.
The finance board trimmed that request after each failed referendum — $300,000 after the first and $150,000 after the second.
Seymour has traditionally had a hard time getting the school budget passed.
The 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 budgets passed with 0 percent increases, after earlier versions failed.
Last year, the schools got a $677,312, or 2.3 percent, increase in spending, after three failed votes.
Seymour First Selectman Kurt Miller said the cuts to the school budget will “be a difficult thing for the board to absorb.”
However, considering the proposal was rejected by a margin of 200 votes, those cuts will need to be made, Miller said.
Article continues after video.
Town Budget
After the second budget failure on May 17, the Board of Finance trimmed about $200,000 from the town’s budget proposal.
Some of those reductions cut into Miller’s proposed initiatives — such as the reduction of about $48,000 for computer technical support and the reduction of about $25,000 for roads.
Miller said he would look to see if there were ways to shift other spending to re-institute the roads and technology funding.
“I’m going to see if there’s anything we can do to perhaps put those back in,” Miller said Wednesday. “But if not, we’ll just move ahead as done.”
Other plans — such as a new human resources director position — remained intact in the budget proposal.
Miller also said the proposal to eliminate the town’s public works director position was no longer being considered.
The proposal first surfaced in on May 7, after the Board of Finance cut about $90,000 from the Public Works department budget — saying it could come from snow plowing and overtime line items, or that it could come from the elimination of the public works director position.
On May 21, the Board of Finance restored about $30,000 to the public works budget.
Wednesday, Miller said he didn’t have enough votes on the Board of Selectmen to eliminate the director’s position, so he was no longer pursuing it.
Taxes
As the total budget has not been approved, it’s unclear what tax rate Seymour will be facing.
However, going into the referendum Wednesday, the proposal called for a tax rate of 32.95 mills.
The current rate is 27.62 mills. Town officials have recalculated the rate to 31.95 to allow residents to make a better comparison to account for revaluation.
Miller said about 30 percent of residents would likely see no increase — or a tax decrease — once the school budget is finalized.
Residents can call Town Hall with their assessment information to find out what will happen to their taxes under the new proposal.
Click here to read everything the Valley Indy has published about the budget.
It’s sad. My town has become ignorant and it actually makes me want to move. It’s going to end up costing more for all these referendums, then to just pass the budget.
I sorta agree Joe, but the people have cast their vote and rejected the education budget for the third time. The right to vote is a basic right in our country.
I think it’s about time the BOE and BOF get to work and give the people something I believe they want I think it is less administrators and more teaching teachers. As far as you wanting to move, don’t let the door hit you in the behind on your way out.
To jack , we may have the right to vote but we do not get to tell the boards how to use the money they get. The no vote truly is ignorant. Besides hurting the kids it brings the value of all of our homes down when we don’t offer a decent education.
To Amy: I don’t think insulting the intelligence of the people who did turn out to vote helps solve the issues facing this town. Do you?
I agree with Jack…More teachers and less administrators telling them how to teach…Seymour has a fairly new Middle School, and remodeled high school, and Chatfield school which looks bigger than most Regional High Schools. Now Seymour needs TEACHERS…cut Admin to pay for it.
Let’s see here, the town operation side of the budget is approved with 1677 people voting, the rejected education budget had 2 less(1675) people voting. I guess the school administrators failed our kids again in convincing enough parents to get out and vote, again. This problem with, both the town budget and education budget, getting voted down multiple times each year is telling. I agree it doesn’t serve the town well, but its time for people to find means to do things differently as past practice isn’t working. It’s insane doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. If a guy without a high school education can figure that out, why can’t the many college educated board members and educators figure it out? It’s also terrible only 1677 people think it’s important enought to cast their opinion. Once again, a spokesperson for the BOE threatens this will hurt the kids. Why hurt the kids when, I feel, there are way to many top level people. Get rid of 2 or 3 and what would the savings be, $300,000 or more? That would go along way to save/improve programs for the kids I would think. If private companies etc. can do more with less, why not schools? Let the remaining administrators pick up the work done by those let go.
This is getting to be a sad, terrible, joke. The board members appear to be deaf to the request of the voters and the voters are apathetic. But, then again, exactly what is it the voters want, what is/are the reason the budgets are rejected? Would it be advantageous for Mr. Miller along with the BOE to place a question-answer survey on the town’s facebook site or the town’s web page so the residents can give feedback? The process is broken and needs fix’n.
Jack, thanks for proving what I said on two accounts, especially the door comment which is probably easy to type to someone. As someone (teacher/coach) entrenched in this matter daily, I know why some of the people vote down the budget, which is what you referenced. The truth is, though, even if that’s what the public wants, it’s just not going to happen. Then, year after year, the only people that get hurt in this power contest are the kids, which is extremely sad. I think more residents vote down the budget because they think education is still just paper, pencils, and a text book. This is where the ignorance part comes in, which may be harsh but I couldn’t think of a better word. Maybe uninformed would be better, which is unfortunate because there are town meetings (that about 20 people go to) that explain what the money is needed for. Again, either way, it’s sad for our children and future as a town, in so many ways.